The Darien Library hosted its first annual Cake Baking Contest on Thursday April 18th and CTbites and Omnomct were invited to judge the entrants. Twelve bakers, including kids, teens and adults submitted home-made cakes.

The contestants baked numerous varieties including a chocolate bundt cake, two toasted coconut cakes, a rich chocolate and Nutella cake, a chocolate cake with meringue frosting, one cake decorated with funfetti, a pink and white starburst decorated cake, a three-tiered fondant decorated cake based on the book “City of Thieves,” a clock cake, and a cake depicting a four-eyed monster popping out of a book. All of them were creative, all of them showed the love and caring from each of the bakers and each of the bakers was proud of their creations.

We judged them in four categories including taste, appearance and texture. As the slices were placed on plates, the interior of some gave us more surprises. The clock cake was actually two layers of cupcakes, the interior of another was a multi-colored extravaganza, one sat on a crispy Nutella base and another was comprised of three layers, one which was a hand-made checkerboard.

In the end only one would be chosen to receive the $100 American Express gift card. In an incredibly close result, the three tiered “City of Thieves” cake (pictured bottom left above) won by a single point.

Congratulations to the winner and congratulations and thank you to everyone who entered. I enjoyed all the cakes.